Wan 3.0 vs MiniMax H3

Wan 3.0 vs MiniMax H3 at a glance

Wan 3.0 from Alibaba Cloud and MiniMax H3 from MiniMax are both in the Video Generation category, available through the EmpirioLabs API.

Key differences

• Wan 3.0 is the newer release (Aug 6, 2026); MiniMax H3 was released on Jul 31, 2026.
• Capabilities listed only for Wan 3.0: text to video, reference to video, audio sync, character consistency.
• Capabilities listed only for MiniMax H3: video generation, audio out, audio in, multimodal.

Wan 3.0 vs MiniMax H3: specs

Wan 3.0 vs MiniMax H3: API pricing

Live rates from the EmpirioLabs catalog for both models. Each rate card always matches what the API charges.

Wan 3.0 vs MiniMax H3: API parameters

Request parameters each model lists on EmpirioLabs, with the allowed values or range where one applies. A dash marks a parameter the model does not list.

Wan 3.0 vs MiniMax H3: limits and notes

Wan 3.0

Generation can take several minutes on the standard tier; the prime tier is significantly faster end to end. Modes are auto-detected from attachments, or override with the mode parameter. The model_tier parameter picks standard or prime; each tier bills at its own per-second rate.

Modes

• T2V: no attachments
• I2V: 1 image (first frame), or exactly 2 images (first + last frame)
• R2V (omni reference): up to 10 images, 5 videos (15s combined), and 5 audio clips (15s combined), plus 1 document file or 1 public web link; address them in your prompt as Image 1, Video 1, Audio 1
• I2V frames and R2V references cannot be combined in one request

Inputs

• Images: JPEG, PNG, BMP, or WEBP, 240 to 8,000 px per side, up to 20 MB
• Videos: MP4 or MOV, 1-15s per clip, up to 100 MB
• Audio: WAV or MP3, 1-15s per clip, up to 15 MB

Duration and billing

• Clips run 2-30 seconds; pass duration: -1 to let the model choose the length
• With video references, input plus output share the 30-second budget, and billed seconds cover input + output combined
• Output is MP4 at 30 fps with native audio; audio: false disables sound without changing the price

Uploaded media preprocessing

• Reference videos are normalized to provider-compatible MP4 when needed.

MiniMax H3

MiniMax H3 generates 4 to 15 second clips at 24 fps in 768p or 2K, each with a native stereo audio track.

Modes

• Text to video: prompt only.
• Image to video: one image becomes the opening frame.
• First and last frame: supply an opening and a closing image.
• Reference to video: up to 9 images, 3 videos and 3 audio clips, 12 reference files in total.
• Regeneration: re-render a 768p clip you generated earlier at 2K. Send the original prompt plus the source clip as base_video.

Prompt expansion

Set enhance_prompt to true and the model first rewrites your brief into a full prompt, adding shot-by-shot structure, camera moves, lighting and a soundscape, then renders from that. Any reference media you attach informs the expansion. It adds a per-token charge on top of the per-second video cost, and is skipped for regeneration because that path reproduces the original request.

Reference media

• Images 256 to 5760 px per side, aspect ratio between 0.4 and 2.5, up to 30 MB each.
• Videos 2 to 15 seconds, H.264 or H.265, up to 50 MB each.
• Audio 2 to 15 seconds, WAV or MP3, up to 15 MB each. Reference audio requires an accompanying image or video reference.
• Reference video and audio apply to reference-to-video only.
• Prompts can be up to 7000 characters and may describe dialogue, sound effects, on-screen text, and camera work.

Billing

• Billed per second of the generated clip at the resolution you request.
• A reference video is billed for its own duration in addition to the generated clip, so a 5 second reference used to make a 6 second clip bills 11 seconds.
• Regeneration is billed at its own lower per-second rate, on the source clip duration plus the regenerated output. Reference images carried over from the original request are not charged again.
• The first 5 reference images are included. Each additional reference image is charged separately.
• Prompt expansion, when enabled, is billed per token.

How to call Wan 3.0 and MiniMax H3

Wan 3.0 runs through POST /v1/videos/generations. The request returns a job_id right away; poll GET /v1/jobs/{job_id} until the job completes and read the output URLs from the result. Both models are called through the same endpoint. Set model to wan-3-0 or minimax-h3. Get an API key from the EmpirioLabs dashboard.

curl https://api.empiriolabs.ai/v1/videos/generations \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $EMPIRIOLABS_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "model": "wan-3-0",
    "prompt": "Describe what you want Wan 3.0 to generate."
  }'

Wan 3.0 vs MiniMax H3: tests and guides

Prompt tests and comparison runs that cover both models.

Guides Seedance 2.5 vs Kling 3.0 Turbo vs MiniMax H3 vs Wan 3.0: image to video test Seedance 2.5, Kling 3.0 Turbo, MiniMax H3 and Wan 3.0 all animated the same vertical starting image across three scenes,...

Wan 3.0 vs MiniMax H3: common questions

What is the difference between Wan 3.0 and MiniMax H3?

Wan 3.0 is the newer release (Aug 6, 2026); MiniMax H3 was released on Jul 31, 2026. Capabilities listed only for Wan 3.0: text to video, reference to video, audio sync, character consistency. Capabilities listed only for MiniMax H3: video generation, audio out, audio in, multimodal. The specs, rate cards, and parameters on this page come from the live EmpirioLabs catalog.

Which is newer, Wan 3.0 or MiniMax H3?

Wan 3.0 is the newer release (Aug 6, 2026); MiniMax H3 was released on Jul 31, 2026.

Which has the lower rate, Wan 3.0 or MiniMax H3?

The two models are priced on different units or tiers, so compare the live rate cards on this page. They always match what the API charges.

Can I switch between Wan 3.0 and MiniMax H3 without rebuilding my integration?

Yes. Both models use POST /v1/videos/generations with the same EmpirioLabs API key, so most integrations switch by changing the model value. Check the parameters table on this page first if you rely on a model-specific parameter.

Can I try Wan 3.0 and MiniMax H3 in the browser before integrating?

Yes. Open each model in the EmpirioLabs playground and run the same prompt on both, with the parameters the API exposes.